Corporate lap dance visits slammed

The Home Secretary has hit out at corporate high-fliers who entertain their clients at lap-dancing clubs.

Jacqui Smith branded the practice "bizarre" as the Government prepared to unveil a crackdown on the sex trade that is expected to criminalise most people who use prostitutes.

Ms Smith said lap-dancing venues appeared to have become an acceptable place for work nights out, adding that new laws would make it harder for them to open.

"If I were a business person and I were wanting to make the best impression on clients, who presumably are female as well as male, I do think it's a bit bizarre that you would take them to a lap-dancing club," she told the Observer.

A new licensing regime due to be announced later this month will see such clubs, which are currently treated the same way as pubs, subjected to the same tough rules as sex shops.

Ministers say the move will give local residents more powers to object to the venues opening, and get them closed down.

"It's not a complete ban on lap-dancing clubs, but it's saying you don't operate in a vacuum, you have an impact on the community around you," Ms Smith said.

"I would hope it would make it harder for them to open, certainly in residential areas, and I would suspect that some of them will be closed when the licences come up for renewal."

This week Ms Smith will outline separate plans to criminalise paying for sex with a woman who is being "controlled for another person's gain".

The new offence will incur a large fine and result in a criminal record for the perpetrator. It covers women who are controlled by pimps or who are drug addicts and working to pay off their dealers, as well as those trafficked for sex. It is understood that not knowing a woman's circumstances will be no defence, and kerb crawlers will be "named and shamed".